Overlooked
by Sara Jaye
Summary: After failing to ask Kerry Hathaway on a date, Peter thinks about his feelings for her, as well as himself and being a middle child.


"Overlooked"  
by Lucy-Brianna  
  
Wow, another fic inspired by a single moment of an episode!   
*laughs* This is my second Brady Bunch fic, based on the episode "Cyrano   
de Brady". Short, angsty, Peter POV after he fails to ask Kerry out on a   
date.  
  
[The Brady Bunch is copyright of Sherwood Schwartz and Paramount. I'm only   
borrowing the characters for a while, I don't intend to make any money   
off of this. This is a standard boy-angsts-about-a-girl fic, but it's   
pretty angsty. If you don't like that kind of thing, don't read any   
further and then complain. Please.]  
~  
  
"I'm the brother who better say goodbye now."  
  
Peter slowly hung up the phone, his heart sinking. He'd just tried to call   
Kerry Hathaway, the new girl at school, to ask her out on a date.  
  
She hadn't said no.  
  
But he hadn't even asked her.  
  
How could he, when she didn't even know who he was?  
  
"Goodbye," he mumbled. He dragged himself off the couch and trudged   
upstairs to his room. Fortunately, Greg was studying at a friend's house   
and Bobby was off playing checkers of something with Cindy. It didn't   
matter, just as long as he could be alone for the night, he thought as he   
let the door swing closed behind him.  
  
"She didn't even know who I was," he muttered. He looked at himself in the   
mirror and shook his head. "Didn't help that I made a complete fool of   
myself when I met her." He cringed, remembering how Kerry and Jan had   
laughed at his "pleased to meet me" gaffe. "Anyone could've made that   
mistake! They didn't have to laugh so much!" he said, climbing up to his   
bed and lying back against the pillow. At that moment, the frustrations of   
being the middle child began to set in.  
  
"Being in the middle sure stinks sometimes," he muttered. "Greg's the   
groovy one who gets all the girls, and Bobby's the cute one. Where does   
that leave me?"  
  
In truth, Peter had never had much of a problem with being in the middle.   
Sure, there was that usual trapped feeling, but he could live with it.  
  
Oftentimes he'd head Jan moan about how "being in the middle was like   
being invisible", and while he felt bad for her, he always thought she was   
overreacting. Maybe it was because he was a guy and certain things just   
didn't bother him so much. He never had much of a problem with his looks,   
and he'd won plenty of awards for sports of school stuff, just like Greg   
had. And it didn't matter if Greg was more popular than him. No big deal,   
right?  
  
Until tonight.  
  
Tonight, he was beginning to see where Jan was coming from.  
  
"She didn't even remember who I was. You'd think she'd at least remember   
me as the one who slipped up and made her laugh so much," Peter sighed.   
"Why am I harping on that anyway? It could've been worse...I could've had   
food stuck in my teeth, or spilled a drink on her, or my fly could've been   
open."  
  
He sighed again, rolling onto his stomach and folding his arms.  
  
"But it feels pretty lousy, being overlooked that way," he mumbled,   
resting his head against his arms. "I'll be seeing her at school every day   
from now on...I wonder if she'll ever notice me...or remember my name."  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Jeez, what's with me tonight? Why am I being so   
dramatic over a little thing like a girl not knowing my name?"  
  
Then he remembered the moment he laid eyes on her. The moment Jan had   
introduced her to him.  
  
Her golden hair. The way her blue eyes sparkled when she laughed.  
  
Her voice.  
  
Her smile.  
  
"That's why," he whispered, tears coming to his eyes.  
  
Being overlooked had never bothered Peter this much before.  
  
But he'd also never fallen in love before.  
~End~  
W00t! Nothing like the feeling of starting and finishing a story   
in the same night! XD  
I like how "Cyrano de Brady" touched on how Peter might feel about   
being in the middle/losing to Greg, even if just a little. While I like   
the way he was written as a scheming, laid-back guy, I also like it when a   
series digs into a character's psyche a little, shows a rare glimpse of   
something they normally don't display whether it be because they hide it   
from the world, or that most of the time they just don't have it. 


End file.
